13.4.10

Quick Sweary Post

A brief chat among mummies on twitter this morning made me remember how I talked about swearing for the first time with darling daughter (DD)

We were in the car, she was about 5 and had just started school and mixing with other children away form any parental guidance.

She suddenly said " I know some swear words"

"oh," says I, remaining calm "do you want to talk about them?"

"yes. One is SHIT and one is COCK"

so narrowly avoiding driving into oncoming traffic, and while controlling urge to giggle, I say

"oh! do you know what they mean?"

DD"no, Fiona told me them"

Me "well Shit is another word for poo, and cock is another work for a willy"

DD (disappointed) "well they are not very rude!"

Me (laughing) "well it depends, some people don't like them, even though they are just words, and no words are 'bad'; and because some people get sad when they hear them, we try not to use them, most people use them when they are very angry"

DD, "so if I stepped in dog poo I could say 'Oh no! I stepped in shit!'"

Me (really laughing now) "perfect use of the word shit!"

DD"OK"

we have never had to have such an elaborate conversation about swearing again, although I have had to explain what shag and fuck mean........she rarely uses them......except when very angry - for a 10 year old she's actually pretty good at using swear words sparingly and effectively! LOL